Common Knowledge
by Jean Cooper
Summary: I have more secrets and skeletons than any other person on this planet. Yours, theirs, and my own. I’m fairly sure I know all of them, and that I am very aware of many I wish I was not.


My entry for this month's contest: Secrets

I own nothing

* * *

I have more secrets and skeletons than any other person on this planet.

If I told someone that they might not think it possible- but is very much so.

Yours, theirs, and my own. I'm fairly sure I know all of them, and that I am very aware of many I wish I was not.

A hundred lifetimes worth of them- because I had been around before time began. It was easier not to focus on my own secrets when I had others to focus on. Unlike the Goddess that seemed to want to throw my secrets in my face at every opportunity.

The Harvest Goddess and I- our feud ran deeper than the contempt I had shown for her.

I loathed her existence, and if I could find away to kill an immortal, to kill a God, I imagine I would easily snuff out the flame that was her life, if not take my own. Because we would always be rivals, and most of the time fate worked in her favor. I could count the number of times it had chosen me as the victor on one hand- and honestly I was not inclined to want to be the victor.

Let the Goddess deal with regret and loss, let her have the strength to be able to subject herself to it, or at the least the knowledge that she tended to deserve that.

Indifference was something I had come to learn. Not to let those who were mortal become important to you, because there life was fragile as an infant's neck. They were just so easy to perish, so susceptible to death. What was the point in the fates trying to force us immortals to try to mingle with the mortals if as soon as we came to care for them, they took them away.

Many years ago I had happened across one such incident that I had one. Miles away from this island, now riddled and infested with mortals, many obliviously happy and unsure of their fate. My morbid obsession had long ago given me the power to see the future, to know the precise moment when an individual would die…

Speaking of which there was a local death scheduled in the wee hours of the night. That old man's time was drawing to an end. But at least he would die peacefully in his sleep. Not like Jack...

When I had married Jack, he had died a drawn out painful death not to long after our marriage.

Was it my fault? I believe so.

The fates assured me that he has simply drawn the short end of metaphorical straw. I had taken the time to grow my interest in the secrets of others, to be able to know there darkest fears. To exploit them, to be able to wreak havoc on those under me.

The fates had always loved to dangle what I came to care about in front of me and take it away. That or side with the Goddess. So why should I not channel that pain and inflict my own version of it onto others?

That evil being seemed to follow me all over the planet, her taunting cackling reminding me of what I had won and what she had taken away.

Such a fickle Goddess.

She didn't deserve prayers and offerings. She was so picky, so hard to please and would curse those who offered her things she didn't like. Even she had secrets… things that even the fates didn't know about.

If they knew what type of things she did, what type of deals she made with mortals they would no doubt cast her into the place of the Kappa where she truly belonged- with the water demons.

Secrets echoed in my head whenever I stepped out of the protection of my house, dark secrets, petty ones, one of doubt, ones of denial…

I took to flight, my old worn broom in my hands as I lifted across the starry sky, looking down. I caught sight of some white hair reflected in the moonlight, and smirked.

That one there, denial. Denial of his feelings for another man at that. But at the least the small meek girl with the glasses at the mines would be happy when he proposed to her. She would be obliviously happy for many years after the marriage, while he remained in blatant denial. At the very least her father would stop his incestuous abuse with her out of the house.

I opted to fly over the darkened town, smirking as sins and secrets of all kinds became fresh in my mind, my powers observing them in.

Secrets are what made me this way. I hadn't…been this bad before the island became infested with mortals, riddled with sin…

Even the Church was diseased. Look at that man, the priest, hiding the bushes and lustfully watching the Goddess in her pond.

In the distance I could make out the form of young Elliot pacing the bridge. He seemed distracted, stuffing something in his pocket and shaking his head. Teenager and younger adults always had the most interesting secrets. What was the big deal about stealing a pair of your crushes panties…

Julia of course had a slightly more complex secret. It wasn't every day that you fawned over the husband of another, and she had been doing that quite a bit. I wonder what Lanna would say when she realized that her lecherous husband had taken it upon himself to start an affair with the young woman…

Not that it made much difference but Lanna had been on tour for a long time, and Denny had never been the most trust worthy person to be left without a babysitter.

Then again Lanna on her 'tour' was probably too caught up in the arms of that young Will gentleman that she seemed to have forgotten she even had a husband.

Ah yes. Karen and Popuri were visiting from Mineral Town again. I wonder how Karen's husband and Popuri's brother felt about their very close sister-in-law relationship. I wonder if he would be able to pass it off as closeness and friendship if he could see them rolling around in the inn's bedroom like they did.

But they weren't always such lecherous secrets. Some just…something that one didn't want to share.

The merchant man was having an affair with the young widow. No worries on guilt for much longer. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that in one of their moments of secrecy she had conceived a child. No doubt the young boy would be pleased to have a mother again.

The older man Gannon seemed to have the most secrets, though not necessarily the most shocking. An affair with Alisa was hardly anything adulterous, considering that neither was married, less you count young Alisa's commitment to stay pure. Now little Eliza on the other hand…I wonder if she would run away when she got slightly older and go look for her mother…

After all she hadn't willingly left home with her father.

So many secrets…so many different people. Sometime after I came to the island I had become more content to wallow in the knowledge of the secrets of others silently, simply mentioning a tidbit or so to them in passing that would make their skin pale.

Pierre was losing his sense of taste, which was why he was truly here.

Cliff from Mineral Town was in the midst of a divorce, and was here to clear his head.

I flew over the main area of the village, happy to catch a glimpse of young Chelsea walking into the jungle.

I wonder how long it would take for her to coax Shea out of the jungle. She had been able to forgive him for his own secret after all. But then again it wasn't like she didn't want him to begin with.

The fact that instinct had taken over, and that as a native here he had no code of honor or even knowledge in the case of consensual copulation mean nothing. Chelsea hadn't exactly said no either.

In fact I was fairly positive that deep down she had wanted it for a very long time. It had been the fact that Mark had walked up on them that had spoiled it for her. And then the young man found out that what he was doing had been wrong…

According to civilized men anyways.

I knew more about Shea than any other person on the island. I had been the one that brought him here all those years ago. Wada had done a good job at raising him. Better than I could have.

Maybe if Jack had stayed in this world, then I could have handled it.

But without him I had been lost. I had done the best thing for our son, sending him to live in the jungle. He had grown up innocent and strong, without the bonds of so called civility.

I hadn't been able to stand the thought of watching my son grow and age and eventually fall to the same fate as his father. But I had been surprised how much of an affect me giving him up as I did had on him. Imagine my surprise when a few seasons ago my own son walked into the small house I had, Chelsea in tow as he demanded to know about his parents.

I had lied.

After all it had been my own secret.

And the lie had placated him, made him the happiest I had ever seen him. So I would rather let him believe that lie, that his parents had simply lost him along the way than tell him the truth. That without his father his so called mother couldn't handle him, had left him in the care of a savage man.

But he had turned out better than I ever could have hoped…

And because of that I held fast to that lie, never wanting to let anyone know that the reason I was here was that boy. To watch him grow and age in the sidelines, until fate finally took him away from me as well…

I wish I didn't know that I was unable to be what Jack thought of me, that I was unable to hold onto mortal emotions and morals.

I simply was the Witch Princess. And because of that I have more secrets and skeletons than any other person on this planet.

If I told someone that they might not think it possible- but is very much so.

Yours, theirs, and my own. I'm fairly sure I know all of them, and that I am very aware of many I wish I was not.

But the secrets that I wish I didn't have the most, was of my own.


End file.
